


Chaneil nith an seo man a bha e, ach an ataireachd na mara

by Eggling



Series: Selkie-Song [2]
Category: Doctor Who, Doctor Who (1963)
Genre: M/M, Selkie AU
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-01-08
Updated: 2018-02-05
Packaged: 2019-03-02 08:05:42
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 9
Words: 18,524
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13313988
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Eggling/pseuds/Eggling
Summary: There is nothing here now as it was, except for the surge of the sea.Seven tears into the water to bring a selkie home.





	1. Prologue

_Flashes of laughter. Rough stone against his back, someone’s hands on his waist, complete and all-encompassing happiness. An innocent bliss they had been forced to abandon. A person he would never be again._

Magical energy swirled around Jamie’s hand and the stone he had placed it on. It turned a weak, pale cream, the colour of bones, or dead grass. This time, he did not need anyone to tell him what the colour meant. The sadness and emptiness lodged in his chest was too constant for him to ever forget.

He sensed the approach of a familiar magic before he even heard its bearer. “What are ye doing here?”

“Looking for you.” Polly paused a short distance away from him, seeming wary, as if he was a wild animal that could lash out at any moment.

“I can look after myself, ye ken.”

“I’m not so sure anymore.” She stepped closer, laying a hand on his shoulder gently. “I know it hasn’t been easy for you.” Jamie scoffed. “What else am I meant to say, Jamie?”

“Nothing at all?” Jamie strode away from the stone. He knew that Polly would not recognise it for what it was, or be able to read the colours, but he still felt vulnerable with his emotions laid out so clearly. “I’ve told ye, I’m fine. There’s nothing tae talk about.”

“Then why are you here?” Polly pressed on. “I know you and the Doctor came here together.” Jamie paused, his heart clenching at the mention of the Doctor’s name. It was useless to deny his reasons for visiting the causeway.

“I dinnae want your pity!” he snapped, at a loss for anything else to say. “Do ye think I havenae noticed you all treating me like I’m going tae – tae _break_ if ye so much as look at me?”

“Jamie -”

Jamie did not stay to listen, turning and storming off towards the forest. He was distantly aware of Polly staring after him sadly, but in that moment he could not bring himself to care. Her attempts to help were well-meant, but none of the others seemed to understand that he wanted to think about the Doctor as little as possible. He wanted to go back to how he had been before, to forget the feeling of the world opening up in front of him.

Flowers wilted as he passed them, a testament to the feelings he was trying so hard to suppress. It had been a month. Surely, he thought, surely that was enough time to move on. To mourn what he had wanted and what could never have been, and to carry on with his life as if nothing had ever changed. As if he had not been caught in the light of the stars, whirled around in a dizzying dance, fallen in love and then abandoned, left standing alone on the shore. He brushed his fingers over the leaves of the trees he passed, feeling them dry and shrivel under his touch, hating that his magic so effortlessly revealed the sadness he tried to ignore.

He found himself standing on the edge of the headland, watching the waves wash against rocks not yet smoothed by the incessant ebb and flow of the ocean, spray falling on them like tears. The wind whistled past him, reddening his cheeks. It felt almost as if it could scrub his skin clean of touches, undo time, take away the ghost of the Doctor standing next to him and holding his hand. A storm was rolling in across the sea, the waves beginning to crash onto the rocks more violently. Jamie turned away from the edge, wrapping his arms around himself as he went. The wind and rain were stinging his eyes, and he did not want to stay and cry over the ocean, even if it was not out of grief. There was no truth in the story of shedding seven tears into the sea to summon a selkie. He had confirmed that barely a day after the Doctor had left.

He only turned back towards the ocean when he reached the mouth of the passage leading into the sídhe. “I hope ye got home safe, Doctor.”

* * *

Waves pushed the Doctor onto the shore of a small island, and he gave a whimper of pain as the rocks scraped against his sides. Shaking his seal coat off, he managed to stand up, staggering across the beach to collapse under a small overhang. The front of his shirt was stained red, and he pushed it aside to examine the damage. A lone bite mark marred his skin, just above his heart. He would be left with a nasty scar. “So much for them wanting me back,” he murmured to himself, a touch of bitterness creeping into his voice.

Thunder rumbled in the distance, and he flinched, suddenly aware of how exposed he was. It was hardly the first time that he had been alone and adrift on the ocean, but he could not shake the growing feeling of apprehension. He peered out at the rain-shrouded horizon, his heart sinking further when he found he could not recognise any landmarks. The call home had guided him back to his pod, but now it was gone, and he could not remember the route he had taken to get there. He was lost.

A familiar song was running through his mind, but the memory he had folded into it was not enough to lead him home.


	2. Chapter One

“You shouldn’t be so hung up on him, you know. It’s been -”

“Do ye think I don’t know that?” Jamie snapped. He clenched his fists, fighting off the flash of irritation. “Och, I’m sorry. I didnae mean tae -”

“I know,” Zoe said quietly. “Polly told me what happened earlier. But you should let go,” she pressed on. “It’s been weeks.”

“So that’s it, is it? _We’ve all moved on, so you should hurry up and forget about him too?_ ”

“I didn’t mean that!” Zoe exclaimed. “Do you really believe the rest of us don’t miss him too?”

“It’s no’ the same, though, is it?” Jamie let out a hollow laugh. “We… we were going tae be married.”

Zoe stared at him. “You never told us.”

“It’s no’ like he ever proposed properly. It was just before he left. We agreed that if he could've stayed, we’d have been married.”

Zoe stared down at the floor, avoiding meeting Jamie’s eyes, but he could see the remorse in her expression. “None of us ever really knew how serious you two were about it, did we?”

Jamie shook his head. “I’m fine, Zoe. Or I will be, at any rate.” He fell silent for a moment, casting around for something to say. Zoe seemed to be locked in the same struggle, her eyes wide as she processed what Jamie had just told her. “Go and find Isobel and tell her how ye feel.”

“Isobel?”

“Aye.” Jamie drew in a deep breath, remembering another morning spent in the forest, many months ago. Thoughts of the Doctor had lain heavy on his mind as they did now, but filled with hopes and impossible dreams of the future, not this crushing emptiness. “One day she might leave too, and then you’ll regret not being honest.”

Zoe looked sceptical. “Playing matchmaker doesn’t suit you, Jamie.”

“Dinnae be daft. I’ll leave that tae Polly.” He reached out to grip her shoulder. “I just don’t want to see ye hurt.”

A thoughtful expression crossed Zoe’s face as he turned to leave. She quickly masked it with annoyance, but he suspected that he might be getting through to her at last, and felt a rare glimmer of satisfaction.

* * *

The forest had been full of life once, alight with birdsong, creatures scuttling beneath the leaves, sunlight or starlight spilling across the branches. Sometimes, there had been laughter and music and firelight, and faeries dancing in hidden clearings. Others of his kind still saw it, but it seemed hidden to Jamie now. The world was sad and cold in his loneliness, a premature winter only he could sense.

A flower closed its petals as he passed, curling in on itself. Jamie reached down, brushing his fingers over it, coaxing it into unfurling again. “I’m sorry,” he murmured. “I didnae mean to make ye hurt for me.” The flower was almost visible through his fingers, even the smallest use of magic making him flicker in and out of corporeality. It had frightened him the first time he had seen it, but now he was too tired to care. Perhaps slipping back into the fathomless depths of the magical energies which had once formed him would be more peaceful than this torturous existence.

Mortals told countless stories of being left behind by selkie lovers. He wondered how their fragile hearts coped.

He stumbled, feeling suddenly light-headed. He was still flickering in and out of physical form, his head pounding with every transition. Somehow, a memory emerged through the fog of his pain. Once, many years ago, an ancient fae had come to the court, mourning for her daughter, who had chosen to live in the mortal realm. None of the healers of the court could cure her of her grief, and she had faded away, turning into a stone by a river.

“Is that what’s going tae happen to me?” He sat down heavily in the comforting cradle of a tree’s roots. “Were ye like me, once?” A heart was carved into one of the roots. For a moment, he thought he saw his past self scratching the mark in with his knife, the Doctor’s hand over his – but he had no memory of this place. Perhaps the vision was not his own.

He felt himself slipping into a deep sleep, but was so detached from himself that it was as if he was watching a stranger.

* * *

“Jamie?”

Stirring sleepily, Jamie fought the temptation to roll over and go back to sleep. He was in bed in the Seelie court now, not in the forest, and the warmth of the blankets was altogether too enticing.

“Jamie, wake up! You can’t go back to sleep, it’s not good for you!”

“Mmph.” His head might as well have been stuffed with leaves, for all the good his mind was doing him. Something about the voice was familiar, but it seemed to take him an eternity to realise why. “Polly?”

“You gave us a right scare there, mate.” Ben’s voice, now. Opening his eyes at last, Jamie saw them standing over him, wearing equally worried expressions.

“What...” His throat was dry, and he fumbled on his bedside table for a glass of water. Polly nudged it towards him, and he managed to close his fingers around it, but did not have the strength to lift it. “What happened? What time is it?”

“About eight in the morning,” Ben said. “You slept like a log last night. Polly was worried you weren’t going to make it, though.” He took her hand comfortingly.

“I found you in the forest,” Polly explained. “You were fading away so quickly, like you’d used up all your magic., or – or like someone had taken you too far away from your forest.” She shuddered. “It was horrible.”

Jamie grinned weakly. “It’s lucky there was enough of me left tae take home.” He seemed solid again now, and was glad of it. He hardly wanted this, regardless of what the others seemed to think. It hurt to have his magic drained away by his own emotions. “And ye stayed here all night?”

“Not all night,” Polly said. “Ben got home a few hours ago, I went to meet him. Victoria sat with you for a while. I think she wants to talk to you.”

“Ben!” Jamie sat bolt upright, fully registering Ben’s presence for the first time. “Have ye seen the Doctor? Has he written to ye?”

He saw the answer in Ben’s eyes before he even spoke. “Sorry, mate. I asked around a bit, too, but nobody’s heard anything from him.”

Jamie’s face fell, and Polly bit her lip, looking anxious to move the conversation away from the topic of the Doctor. “How about we bring you some breakfast?” she said, assuming an encouraging smile. “I’m sure you’ll feel better once you’ve eaten.”

“Aye, alright.” Already, waves of exhaustion were washing over Jamie, and he slumped back against the pillows. Despite his tiredness, he did not miss the worried look that Ben and Polly exchanged as they left, and fought to keep himself awake and listening when they closed the door behind them.

“Is he going to be alright?” There was a sharper edge of concern in Polly’s voice, one which she had been keeping carefully hidden from Jamie.

“I don’t know, do I? I’m not one of them healers.” Ben sighed. “Sorry, duchess, it’s been a long night.”

“If only he’d written back. I almost hate him for leaving.”

Their conversation faded as they headed down the corridor, but what little Jamie had heard echoed in his head for a long time afterwards. _Almost hate him for leaving_. Part of him wanted to agree, to rage at the Doctor for having to leave and break his heart. But the larger part of him wanted to defend the Doctor and explain his actions, knowing that it had not been his fault.

He had to let go of this. Perhaps the Doctor had already forgotten what had been between them, all his promises as ephemeral as a breeze. Mourning would do nothing but kill him slowly, until he let himself be suffocated by his own grief.

The Doctor was not coming back.


	3. Chapter Two

The Doctor slid onto the shore in a rush of waves and a swirling of sealskin as his coat fell away from him. He remained sprawled amongst the rocks for a moment, letting the tide rush over him. The salt stung the wound on his chest, but the water would help it heal. He sat up, pushing his blood and water-soaked shirt aside to examine the bite mark again. It was still deep, but to his relief it seemed to have remained clean. An infection was the last thing he needed, isolated as he was.

He pushed himself out of reach of the water, drawing his coat more tightly around his shoulders in an attempt to keep out the cold. The little cove was unfamiliar to him, barely a cluster of rocks alone on an empty sea, but it would be enough for tonight. He was used to sleeping rough by now – the shelter of one windswept tree was a relief, the overhang he had found here almost a luxury. Curling against the rocks, he reached into his pockets, pulling out and setting aside loose twigs, a few sheets of paper, and a collection of sea-smoothed stones. A flash of green caught his eye, and he reached up to catch the leaf fluttering down beside him.

“What are you, hm?” He rifled through the papers he had cast aside. “I suppose I should write you down. Jamie will know.” _Will know._ There was a comfort in that, in the certainty of it, a warmth spreading through him that no physical shelter could compare to. A promise of homecoming hidden in the notes he was keeping. If only he could make himself believe in it. “I’ll find him again one day, you know. Then I’ll ask him.” He let the leaf go, watching it be swept across the rocks and into the sea, where it bobbed serenely on the waves. “Perhaps you’ll even reach him before I do.”

He dipped his hand into his pockets once more and pulled out a book, its pages well-thumbed, its leather cover a little battered from use. “Now, where was I?”

* * *

“You said you’d stopped doing this!”

“Aye, I know. It’s only an hour every day.” Jamie shrugged. He had been hoping the others would not find out about his daily ritual. “Besides, it’s the autumn equinox.”

Polly softened. “The day you two met.” She touched his shoulder lightly. “Do you really still think he’s coming back?”

“No’ really,” Jamie admitted. “I’m just here on the off chance that he does. How could I tell him that I gave up on him?”

“Are you ever going to stop?”

“I don’t know.” Jamie looked back towards the horizon. “An hour a day can’t hurt.”

“Maybe you’re right.” To Jamie’s surprise, Polly sat down beside him, staring out at the ocean. “I’d like to believe he’s coming back, too.” They sat in silence for a while, Polly clearly wanting to speak, but seeming unsure of how Jamie would react. “Ben and I are getting married.”

Jamie sat bolt upright, staring at her, a smile spreading across his face. “He asked?”

Polly nodded. Jamie could tell that she was trying to keep herself composed, but excitement was sparking in her eyes. “Last night.”

“Is he staying here, then?”

“For a little while, I think. He’s going to ask his ship’s captain. She normally lets people have a few months off, at least.” For the first time, Jamie noticed Polly fiddling with a ring on her finger. Knots wove around the silver band like waves, dancing as she turned it over, and he smiled wider. Ben must have saved up for months to buy it. “We’ve not even asked permission from the king and queen yet.”

“That’s just a formality,” Jamie pointed out. “When was the last time ye heard of them denying anyone a wedding?”

“I thought you’d be upset,” Polly confessed. “Zoe told me what you said to her the other day. I thought it would hurt for Ben and I to have something that you can’t have, at least not with...”

Jamie reached over to squeeze her hand gently. “I’m happy for ye both,” he said. “It’s taken long enough.”

Polly laughed at that. “Placing bets, were you?”

Jamie laughed with her. “Zoe and Isobel might have been, I wouldnae put it past them. But everyone’s been wondering when you’d stop dancing around it.”

“We wanted to ask you – well, Ben and I can’t decide if we’d like you to be our best man or our bridesman.”

Jamie pulled her into a tight hug. “I’ll be both, if ye want.”

“Thanks, Jamie.” Polly got up, brushing sand from her skirts. “I’ve got to go, I promised Victoria I’d help her get ready for tonight.”

“Off tae be a mother hen to someone else, then?”

“Hush, you. Victoria needs the help, she’s still not used to going out, and after the Doctor...” She trailed off awkwardly. “Have you talked to her yet?”

“I’ve no’ even seen her for weeks.” Jamie sighed. “It feels like last time.”

“Talk to her,” Polly said, squeezing his shoulder. “You might find she understands more than you think. Don’t wait there too long, will you?”

“Aye, alright. Just a wee while longer.”

* * *

The faint sound of music still drifted from the corridors of the Seelie court, light spilling out of the few windows that faced the beach. The night had a chill edge to it, and Jamie’s shirt did little to keep out the cold. It was a garment designed for formality, not for standing on a windswept beach on the night of the autumn equinox. He took a few steps towards the water, his footsteps deep in the damp sand. Waves started to wash around his feet, soaking the leather of his boots and smoothing over the traces of his footsteps, as if he had never been there. As if he was a ghost.

“Are ye out there, Doctor?” he called. “Can ye hear me?” He knew it was impossible, that the Doctor was far away, most likely deep beneath the waves. But strange things could happen on nights like this, as Polly had reminded him so long ago. The previous autumn equinox had brought the Doctor to him; perhaps this one would bring him home.

He took a few more steps into the water, the music from the Seelie court fading away, replaced by only the rushing of the waves. The moon seemed to be lighting a path for him, leading him deeper into the water, further away from his home. Water was lapping around the hem of his kilt now, soaking the wool. Dragging him down to the ocean floor already. “Ye said – ye promised I’d never have cause tae fear the water. Well, here I am. Are ye going tae come and save me?” _The Doctor’s arms around his waist, lips pressed against his. A swirl of sealskin as the Doctor changed forms. Holding onto him as they swam together._

He stumbled and plunged into the water, fighting to right himself. For a moment, it seemed as if the whole world had been turned upside down, and he wondered if he was going to be dragged out to sea by the currents. The Doctor was not coming for him. He knew he had fallen victim to the strange warping of magical energies that accompanied the equinox. His heart had been left unguarded, and dangerous magic had seeped in through the cracks, whispering to him of hope and the return of a lost love. Only now, shielded from the web of enchantment by the very water that threatened to drown him, did he realise what he had done. At last he managed to find the sea floor, and pushed himself upright, gasping in deep breaths of salt-sharp air.

Something nudged at his thigh, and he looked down to see bright seal eyes blinking up at him curiously. “Doctor?” he breathed. Cold disappointment settled over him as he looked closer, taking in the seal’s size, its eyes dark brown rather than sea-blue. It was just an ordinary seal, one from the colony that he and the Doctor had sat with so often. “He didnae come back for me,” he murmured, bending down so the seal could sniff at his face curiously. “He’s no’ coming back, is he? He’s left us both for good.” The seal huffed out a noise that could almost have been agreement.

A sudden wave of exhaustion washed over Jamie, and he staggered, expecting to be dragged under once more, but instead feeling only the seal’s blubbery warmth under his hands. More dark shapes were circling around him, and for the first time in weeks, he felt only peace. The seals were coming to return their debt. He had saved one of their own from drowning, and now they were saving him.

“Thank you,” he murmured. Nudging at him until he was floating on his back, the seal called out to its companions, who swirled ever closer as the world faded away.

Several hours later, Jamie awoke to the cold light of dawn and the first waking of the Seelie court. He was curled on the rocks of the beach, his clothes still damp. The night had not been a dream, then. He was unsure of whether or not to be glad of it – his exhaustion was still bone-deep, but there was a sort of acceptance settling into his stomach, a release of his own pointless longing.

Of the seals which had carried him home, there was no sign.


	4. Chapter Three

It was Victoria who found him. She padded across the beach almost silently in her soft leather court shoes, and Jamie jumped when she sat down beside him. He had not expected to see her so far from the court’s gardens.

“What brings ye all the way out here?” he asked. She remained silent for a moment, staring down at her lap carefully, arranging her skirts as neatly as if she were seated in the hall.

“I might ask you the same question,” she said at last, looking him over. Only then did Jamie realise that his clothes had not yet dried in the sun, and that sand was clinging to him. He rubbed a smear of it off his cheek, grimacing as the grains scraped his skin. “Are you alright, Jamie?”

He opened his mouth to give a sharp retort, but there was something soft in her expression, an understanding that none of the others seemed to have. Polly had been right, he thought. He needed to talk with her. “No,” he said at last. Tentatively, he reached out to grip her hand. “Are you?”

Victoria stared down at her lap again. “No,” she admitted. She let out a shaky, breathless laugh, and Jamie smiled back at her, understanding the relief of telling the truth after so long. “There’s something freeing in saying that, isn’t there?”

“Aye, there is.” He nudged their shoulders together. “I should’ve come tae see ye earlier. I just didnae think that -”

“That anyone would understand?” Jamie grinned a little sheepishly. “He meant a lot to both of us.”

“I didnae even see it,” Jamie said. “Ye were closer to him than I thought, weren’t ye?”

“He was much like my father, in many ways,” Victoria explained. “To have that taken away again...” She shook herself, trying to pull herself together, but Jamie could see the tears in her eyes as she looked up towards the horizon. “Where do you think he is now?”

“Och, I don’t know.” Jamie stretched out, leaning back to look up at the sky, trying to forget the Doctor’s desperation to avoid going home. “I’d like tae think he’s having the time of his life with some adventure, wouldn’t you?”

* * *

Letting himself be carried along by the currents for a moment, the Doctor surveyed the islands around him, trying to remember if he had seen them before. The shape of them seemed familiar – but how did he know them? Would they lead him to the Seelie court, or had he seen them many years ago, or even in a book? Any chance was better than none, he reasoned. Propelling him forward with a flick of his tail, he dipped down beneath the water’s surface again. A shoal of fish scattered around him, and he swam after them for a little way, closing his eyes to better navigate by the magical energies around him. For the first time, he could sense the threads of magic being tugged in a definite direction, and his heart leapt in his chest. At last he had a clear trail to follow home.

The threads grew stronger as he swam, and he was spurred onwards, his exhaustion melting away in the face of hope. He paused as he surfaced for breath some time later, seeing a dark smudge of land through the mists rolling off the ocean and letting out a cry of joy and relief. He recognised the shape of that headland, knew almost by heart the shape of the currents and rocks in the bay beside it. His own magic sung with his sudden over flow of emotion, and he felt the web of magic emanating from the Seelie court sing in return. He was too far away to tell which thread of magic belonged to Jamie, but the knowledge that he was close made him want to turn somersaults in the water. The sound of home was like the wind whistling through sea-stacks, inexplicably beautiful and wonderfully familiar. Now that he was so close, it almost felt as if he had never been away, and the past months had been a dream. He could let the tide wash him onto the sand, shift forms and look up to see Jamie standing there, holding out a hand to help him up. They would walk home together, and there would be warmth, and the hollow that had been in his chest for so long – first for his home and family under the sea, and now for Jamie – would fade away.

Something struck him from behind, and he rolled over to meet his attacker, expecting to be met with the jaws of a shark but seeing only darkness and a cloud of his own blood. The singing of the Seelie court’s magic had ceased, and he heard nothing but his own pounding heartbeat. He felt the currents shift, as if something large had swum past at high speed, but before he could turn to see what it was he had been struck again. Yelping at the shock and pain, he swam towards the surface, gasping in a breath. The sun was setting behind him, but the familiar shoreline ahead was still visible. Surely he could make it to the Seelie court before midnight, and take refuge there. Diving back beneath the water, he sped onwards, hoping beyond hope that he was faster than his attacker. For a moment, he thought perhaps he had lost them, and that he would make it home tired and a little worse for wear, but safe.

Teeth sunk into his tail fins, and he cried out instinctively, his mouth filling with water. He felt himself being dragged away, could see the sea floor dropping away beneath him, but no matter how hard he struggled, his captor’s grip never faltered. Shock and blood loss were quickly weakening him, even as he fought to stay awake and squirm out of the predator’s grasp. At last, he managed to turn his head to see them properly, dimly recognising the shapes and colours of a leopard seal. Something about its presence seemed wrong, but his mind was hopelessly confused, stunned into slowness by the blows he had received. He had met leopard seals once – but had it been here, or on the other side of the world? Or perhaps he had never met leopard seals at all, and the memory belonged to someone else, a story which had been told to him in passing, interesting enough to remember but devoid of anything that might help him now.

Twisting around in the water, he managed to break the surface for a moment, gasping in a precious breath of air before being dragged further down. For a brief moment, the hold on him lessened, but he was too dazed and weakened to even think to escape. Before he realised that he could have tried, the leopard seal’s jaws had closed around his body, its teeth digging more sharply into his sides if he so much as flinched. A wave of exhaustion washed over him, the pain of his wounds combining with terror and the constant, dull pain of being so far from home, and he finally let himself slip into oblivion, seeking respite from his own fear.

* * *

Someone was crouching beside him.

The shape of their silhouette was unfamiliar, blurred by darkness and the haze of his own pain, yet still the Doctor felt that he should recognise them. They were speaking softly, thoughtfully, as if to themselves more than him, and he somehow felt that he was being weighed up, his value assessed. The thought struck an inexplicable terror into him, and he tried to move away from him, but they simply placed a hand on his side, stopping him from rolling over.

As they leant forward a little, their face was illuminated by a softly flickering light, and their features became clear. A sense of overwhelming peace settled over the Doctor. “Jamie.”

Jamie smiled, leaning in further to kiss his forehead tenderly. “Aye, leannan, I’m here.”

“How can you be here with me?” There was something wrong about Jamie’s presence, as much as the Doctor wanted it. “You can’t be here. I’m lost.”

“No, you’re not. You’ll never be lost again.” Jamie pushed him back onto the ground gently, holding the Doctor’s shoulders until he relaxed and lay still. “Ye should be asleep.”

“No – Jamie, don’t go!” The light was fading, and the sense of Jamie’s presence was vanishing just as quickly. “Jamie!”

Somewhere, Jamie was still singing to him. The tune was achingly familiar, but the words were blurred by distance and obscured by another sound. For the first time, he heard waves crashing on the shore.

* * *

The Doctor’s head was still spinning when he awoke. It seemed to take forever to coax his eyes into opening, but at last he managed it, taking in the weak light of dawn and the sharp, craggy rocks of an unfamiliar shore. His wounds were still aching, but he did not seem to have sustained any more while he had been unconscious. Twitching his tail fins experimentally, he was pleased to discover that he seemed to have avoided any significant damage.

There was no sign of the leopard seal which had attacked him. A surge of hope bolstered his energy, and he attempted to push himself towards the waves lapping nearby, hoping that movement would be easier with the support of the water. It took him a moment to realise that he was bound by ropes, thoroughly and tightly. There was no hope of escape, at least not in his seal form. Undoing the knots would require human hands. Pausing for a moment to catch his breath, he summoned up all the strength he had remaining and willed himself to change. But there was no motion, no swirl of sealskin, no shift in his senses. The transformation had failed. Again and again he tried, always meeting with the same result, until he was forced to admit the truth of it. He was too badly injured to change forms. He was going to die there, slaughtered like any other seal, and it would all be because of a failsafe hardwired into his own magic.

Only then did he wonder how he had come to be tied up. This could not be the work of the seal that had caught him. Perhaps they had both been captured, and his attacker was as much of a victim as he was. The hunting of seals was taboo in the waters around the Seelie court, he knew that much – perhaps some intruders or travellers had come too close, and not been aware of the laws. And yet something about this explanation still did not ring true. The shore was too quiet, and he could see no footprints leading up from the water’s edge, though only now was the tide coming in. There was something he was missing.

He flinched away as a stone struck him in the back, pain flaring through his wounds at both the blow and his sudden movement. The sound of footsteps made him recoil again. Perhaps someone was coming to take him away from the sea, far from any chance of escape. Desperately, he squirmed towards the water’s edge, almost reaching it before he was hauled away by the ropes that bound him. Someone was speaking in a language he neither understood nor recognised, but he could understand the smug reprimand well enough, the assurance that there was no way he could escape, the threat of further pain if he tried again. Rolling over onto his back, he peered up at the person who was speaking to him, then around at the rest of he beach. It appeared deserted save for himself and the stranger. A rough camp had been set up a short distance away, but it seemed only fit for one traveller, and the cold dread of realisation and understanding settled over him. He looked back up at the stranger, taking in the seal coat wrapped around his shoulders.

_A leopard seal selkie_ , he thought. A lone hunter or explorer, travelling far from home rather than not lost or swept off course, and himself mistaken for an ordinary seal. If only he could reveal his true nature, change to his human form and try to communicate with the other selkie, he might have a chance to escape. But the ropes that bound him pressed his coat tight against him – too tight for him to shake off, even if he had not been wounded.

He eyed the slowly rising waterline with some apprehension. Would the other selkie even keep him alive long enough for the water to rise so he could attempt an escape? He suspected that he would be killed long before the waves reached him, even if he was not pursued, but he did not allow himself to dwell on it. There was still some hope left, somehow preserved within the song that would not leave his mind. The other selkie turned back towards his camp, and the Doctor rolled a little way towards the water’s edge, keeping a watchful eye on him. He paused, his breath held, his heart in his mouth, waiting for a shout of alarm and another blow to his side, but none came. Perhaps he had a chance after all.

For the next few hours, he painstakingly squirmed and rolled his way towards the rising tide, always taking care not to move too far too quickly. The other selkie seemed distracted, paying little mind to him, but he could not allow himself to relax, even for a moment. Any error would lead to him being pulled far away from the water, with no second chance at escape. As the tide ebbed closer, it grew harder and harder to resist the urge to launch himself towards the ocean, but he held himself still. He had to be patient.

The waves were starting to lap at his fur, the salt stinging his wounds. It would not be long now. The sound of a fire crackling made him roll over, seized by a sudden panic. The other selkie was poking at the base of a rough pebble firepit with a stick, staring into the leaping flames. As the Doctor had suspected, he was being kept around as little more than a fresh meal, and his time was running out fast.

He shied away instinctively as the other selkie stood up and approached him, drawing a knife from his belt. He loomed over the Doctor even when he crouched down beside him, tossing the knife between his hands carelessly. The Doctor shuddered at the sight of its gleaming stone blade, trying to steer his mind away from thoughts of the edge of it dripping with his blood. Would he return to his human form if his coat was cut away from him, or would he remain in seal form? The other selkie gripped the knife firmly in one hand, raising it above the Doctor, who squeezed his eyes shut. Images of Jamie sprung unbidden into his mind – dancing with him on the night they had met, sitting on the beach and laughing, looking as if his heart was broken beyond repair when they were parted. His imagination took over where memory failed him. Jamie mourning the loss of their love for the rest of his life, never knowing that the Doctor had tried to come home to him. Tried and failed, and his life lost in the process, he thought grimly. He sensed movement, and braced himself for the pain of the knife slicing through his skin.


	5. Chapter Four

The Doctor opened his eyes to the sound of a knife sawing through rope. To his immense relief, the other selkie was simply cutting through his bonds, slipping the knife back into his belt and standing up when he was done. He released the breath he had been holding, all but melting back into the sand in relief. He was still alive, for now, and with a greater chance of escape than he had had before. He gave one last attempt at shifting forms, but was met with failure. It hardly mattered, he thought. Even if he had been able to transform, he was unsure whether the other selkie would be willing to talk, or if they spoke a common language. Escape into the water remained his only option.

The other selkie turned at a particularly loud crackle from the fire, letting out a noise that was almost certainly a curse. The flames were beginning to lick up the sides of the makeshift spit he had constructed, and he hurried back up the beach to toss a handful of sand over the pit. This could be his only chance, the Doctor realised. His captor was distracted, and the ropes which had bound him had been cut away. It took only one final push for him to slip into the water, gasping in a breath of air and diving beneath the surface, flicking his tail to propel himself onwards with a wince. His entire body ached with his wounds and from having lain almost still all day, but he tried to ignore it. He was not safe here.

Surfacing for breath, he dared to pause and glance behind him. The other selkie was slipping his coat over his shoulders and transforming, and the Doctor wondered what chance he would have in an open-water pursuit, weakened as he was. If he doubled back to the beach, he would be cut off and caught within moments. He had to find somewhere to hide, and quickly.

A shadow flickering past caught his eye, and he swerved away, wondering how the other selkie could have caught up to him already. Only when the creature swam closer did he see what it really was – a shark, no doubt attracted by the scent of his blood. He turned to follow a different current, letting it bear him onwards. He hardly cared that it might be pulling him further away from home. All he could ask was that it carried him somewhere safe.

More sharks were circling nearby now, waiting for him to tire and become an easier meal, but the current had led him towards a cluster of sea stacks, a welcome break from the open ocean. He pushed himself on towards them, weaving around them in the hopes of confusing the trail of blood and losing some of the sharks, if not the other selkie. Surfacing for breath and to orient himself, he saw an island in the distance, barely more than a smudge of green and brown but still a wondrous promise of safety. If he could only make it to the shore, he could catch his breath, reorient himself. But the sharks were still following closely, snapping at his tail fins now, and he doubted whether he had the endurance left to reach safety. His heart was pounding ever faster, and each breath served him for a shorter and shorter time.

Sharp pain seared through his flank, and he was shaken from side to side vigorously, his head spinning. One of the sharks had managed to get a hold of him, and the others were closing in, almost seeming to smile greedily. They were about to tear him into pieces, the Doctor realised, shuddering in horror. He wondered whether the shock would kill him quickly, or if he would be left bleeding out, begging for death to come soon. Two of the sharks were tussling with each other, buying him a little time – but what could he do? He snapped weakly at one shark that came too close, but it dodged the blow lazily. He squeezed his eyes shut, wondering when the feeding frenzy would begin.

The shark’s hold on him shuddered, and he winced as its teeth dragged through his flesh. It took a moment for him to register that he had been released, the shark sent wheeling away by some massive blow. He drifted in place for a moment, as stunned as his attackers. When his vision cleared, he saw the other selkie darting around the rest of the sharks, pushing them away with bites and the force of his own momentum. Seeing his chance at last, the Doctor swam onwards, peering above water for a moment to orient himself then diving deep, scanning for a gentle rise in the sea floor to guide him onto a suitable beach. Something brushed against him, and he skittered away, pushing himself to swim faster and escape this fresh danger. After a moment, the dark shape in the water beside him resolved itself into the other selkie, and he instinctively let out a cry of alarm, cursing himself a moment later for wasting his breath.

After a moment, however, he realised that the other selkie was not trying to harm him – he was still warding the sharks away, keeping his massive bulk between them and the Doctor, wincing when they managed to bite him. Their eyes met. The other selkie nodded in acknowledgement, and the Doctor nodded in return, understanding the message. Not an apology, as such, but some kind of recognition – somewhere along the way, perhaps from how he had acted or the colour of his eyes, the other selkie had come to realise his true nature. He would not attack again. Shepherded onwards by an unexpectedly gentle giant, the Doctor allowed a part of his mind to relax, adrenaline still keeping him on edge but now with a renewed confidence. The island could not be far away, and he could wait on the shore until the sharks had given up and left in search of easier prey. Escape was within his grasp – and from there, home, if he could find his way.

Surfacing for breath, he bobbed in place for a moment, surveying the shores of the island before him. His heart was still pounding, sending rivulets of blood drifting out into the ocean. It was a wonder there was any left, he thought absently. The water around him was reddening, and he watched it with a sort of detached curiosity, as if it was not his blood at all, as if he was very far away from the scene. Perhaps it was the shock setting in. Everything was beginning to feel like a dream – the water lapping on the shore, the shadows circling beneath him. His blood being incessantly pumped out of his body. The other selkie’s roar of warning as one of the shadows swam closer, coming moments too late.

Struggling against the shark’s grip, the Doctor only managed to drive its teeth deeper into him. He cried out, spluttering as water rushed into his mouth. Once again, he was shaken, and the other sharks closed in eagerly. Darkness was already creeping in on the edges of his vision, and he wondered whether he would drown before the sharks could see to him. It would be a relief, he thought. At least he would not feel anything. He strained upwards, but his nose barely touched the surface before he was dragged further underwater. Twisting around with a sudden burst of determination, he managed to bite the shark hard enough for it to release its grip a little, and squirmed out of its jaws, dodging another assailant as he went. For a brief moment, there was only open water in front of him – he tried to make a dash for it – but the other sharks were closing in. He was surrounded on all sides, shrinking away even as they pressed closer.

The other selkie rammed into the sharks from above, sending several of them spinning away, dazed. In the commotion, one of them snapped at the Doctor, but the other selkie had taken the blow before he could even think to dodge away. Making a break for the surface, the Doctor gasped for breath, coughing up the water he had swallowed. His lungs were stinging from the salt water and the salt air, and he kept his nose above the surface as he struggled onwards. His whole body ached, and his wounds felt as if they were on fire, but he shore was too close for him to give up now.

When he paused to gather his strength, a roar of frustration made him turn his head. The other selkie was urging him onwards to safety even as he himself was being dragged down by the sharks. His massive bulk and greater strength and stamina could only do so much, the Doctor thought. He could not win this battle on his own. Barely an hour ago, he had been a threat, an impossibly powerful enemy. Given the chance, the Doctor might even have left him to fend off the sharks on his own out of sheer desperation. But the other selkie was one of his people, and had saved his life. The Doctor could not abandon him in good conscience.

Taking a deep breath, he wheeled around and swam towards the sharks as fast as he could. His smaller size meant the impact did not stun the shark he had hit, but he did succeed in getting its attention, darting away to nudge at the other selkie before any of the sharks could get a hold of him. Seeing his chance for escape, the other selkie sped away from the sharks, half pushing the Doctor along as he went. A few of the sharks made half-hearted snaps at them as they fled, but they seemed to have realised it was not worth the effort. The chase was taking too long for such a small reward. One by one, they turned and receded back into the darkness in pursuit of other prey. The other selkie gave a thunderous cry of joy and victory as they left, clearly seeing his battle as having been won.

The ocean floor was sloping up towards the island, and the Doctor was falling, seaweed brushing against his stomach. Exhausted, he sank further down into it. As the adrenaline wore away, his pain worsened, and he hissed as the sharp edges of the seaweed brushed against his wounds, but he did not have the energy to rise to the surface. Half-conscious, he sank at last to the sea floor, coming to a halt. He watched shadows flickering above him through half-lidded eyes. They looked like other selkies, he thought dimly, swimming and dancing above him. There was music, too, but it was not a selkie song. His eyes closed.

_Somewhere, someone was still singing. The same tune as before, but slower, sadder – not a lullaby, and far from a song to dance to. A lament. In the darkness of his own mind, the Doctor stumbled towards the song. When he tripped and fell, the voice faltered, and the song stopped. Nobody was there to pick up the other half of the tune. The figure standing before him was alone._

_“Jamie?” he called out. The figure turned. “Jamie, I’m lost.”_

_“Here.” Jamie’s hands were in his. “What did I tell ye?”_

_“That I’d never be lost again.”_

_“Do ye trust me?”_

_“With my life.”_

_Jamie pulled him to his feet._

Someone was nudging at him, pushing him up towards the water’s surface so he could breathe. Opening his eyes a little, the Doctor saw the beach, barely a few metres away from him and gliding ever closer. The other selkie was carrying him to the shore.

He was safe.

* * *

The beach was deserted when the Doctor awoke, the other selkie having vanished back into the waves. He wondered if they would ever see each other again – and, if they did, what they might say to each other, how to thank someone who had very nearly killed him for saving his life. But his wounds were carefully bound in some rough material, and he was laid out in a hollow in the sand, away from curious or hungry eyes. It was done with kindness, if not with gentleness.

Shaking himself gingerly, he managed to shed his coat at last, and spread it out on the sand to examine the damage. There were a few scattered rips and tears in it, as he had suspected – he could feel the pain of it in his own body, phantom wounds underneath real ones. Even in his human form, deep cuts were struck across his sides and arms. Something white was glinting in one of them, and he pulled out a shark’s tooth, razor-edged and deadly. Wiping it clean of blood, he shrugged and tucked it into his pocket. His injuries were less serious than he had feared – nothing that rest and faerie magic could not heal. He just had to get home first, he thought with a heavy sigh.

Standing up cautiously, he surveyed a winding path leading up to the island’s summit. An animal track, most likely, rough and steep, but he needed to get his bearings. Gritting his teeth and willing the trembling in his limbs not to bring him down, he started to climb, slipping a little on the sand. He managed to make it halfway up the track before a stone tripped him, sending him sprawling onto the ground, throwing out one hand to break his fall. Wincing, he realised that the branch he had managed to grab was covered in thorns. He picked them out of his palm, hissing at the way it stung but somehow relishing it, too. He had grown accustomed to pain, and the sensitivity of his human form was almost a novelty after having been trapped in seal form for so long.

Stumbling onto the crest of the hill, he surveyed the stretch of ocean before him anxiously. A shadow of land lay on the horizon, and he sank to his knees, recognising the softly rolling hills and a rugged headland, mountains towering behind. Home was not so far away as he had thought. “You were right, Jamie,” he murmured. “I’m not lost. I’m coming home.”


	6. Chapter Five

“Jamie!”

Zoe ran across the hall towards him, attracting a few disapproving looks from some of the older fae, but seeming too euphoric to care. She was smiling brightly, looking as if she had learnt something new and wondrous, but Jamie could tell that this was no ordinary discovery. Her usually neat clothes were in slight disarray, and when she reached him, she hugged him tightly. There was only one thing which could have made Zoe abandon her usual self-control in this way. “Ye told Isobel?”

Zoe stared down at him in disappointment. “Somebody already told you?”

Jamie grinned, shifting over so she could sit on the bench beside him. “I’ve no’ seen anyone this morning. It’s just a wee bit obvious.”

“Is it?” Zoe glanced down at herself, blushing when she realised the state she was in. She managed to smooth down her shirt and her hair, but could not keep the smile from her face. “I kept thinking about what you said,” she babbled excitedly. “And Isobel kept talking about leaving – and in the end I just _had_ to tell her.”

“Is she staying?” Jamie asked. Zoe nodded, and he hugged her back. “I’m happy for ye, lassie.” Zoe batted at him, resting her head against his shoulder. “Does this mean I get tae tell ye 'I told ye so'?”

“Certainly not,” Zoe said sternly.

Jamie pulled a face at her. “Are ye staying for breakfast?”

“No, I’ve already eaten.” She glanced up at the great clock above the thrones. “I should be going, they’ll be missing me in the library soon.”

The sparkle in her eyes told Jamie that she was thinking of Isobel, not the library staff. “On ye go, then,” he said, pushing her away gently. “Go and find her.”

* * *

Raindrops trickled down the window panes, and Jamie traced them with his finger as they went, staring out at the stormclouds. It was not unusual for him to feel melancholic and tired at this time of year, but his attention was not turned towards the leaves falling from the trees. Even with the window closed, the crashing of the waves on the shore was still audible. The weather was turning cold, the sea becoming rougher. He could only hope that the Doctor was safe from the elements – deep beneath the waves, or perhaps in some sheltered cove, alongside others of his people. The winter did not look to be a kind one, even to a blubbery seal.

The door creaked open behind him. He did not need to look to see who it was. “Hello, Polly.”

“I just thought I’d come and see how you were,” Polly said tentatively.

Jamie sighed. Even after all this time, Polly still seemed to think he was made of glass. “I’m fine.”

Polly came up behind him, resting her hand on his shoulder. “The weather’s turning nasty, isn’t it?” Jamie nodded wordlessly. “I hope he’s safe.”

“Aye, me too.” Reaching up, Jamie placed his hand over Polly’s. “I really am fine, ye know.”

“Of course you are,” Polly said, smiling a little sadly. “Just as fine as the rest of us.” She stepped away, twisting her hands together anxiously. The gesture was so reminiscent of the Doctor that it made Jamie’s heart clench with an agony sharper than any he had felt in months. “Listen, Jamie… do you think he’s coming back?”

Jamie shrugged. “No’ for a long while. If at all.”

“It’s just that – oh, it’s silly really. I know none of us have heard anything from him, we’ve asked all the travellers we can, Ben’s talked to all his friends – but Ben and I talked it over, and we still want to wait.”

“Wait?” Jamie blinked at her. “Wait for what?”

“To get married.” Polly was fiddling with her engagement ring. “We’re not going to hold the ceremony until the Doctor comes home.” She seemed sad, but determined, and Jamie knew she was serious about the matter.

“Are ye really willing to wait that long?” He could not hide the fact that he was taken aback by the decision. Polly had seemed so stoic after the Doctor had left, so rational. He would never have expected her and Ben to do anything this drastic.

“I’m not sure,” Polly said. “Maybe we’ll wait a year or so, see if we hear from him and he can visit. But he’s our friend too. It wouldn’t feel right without him there.”

“Aye, you’re right.” Jamie looked back up at the sky. “It just feels more and more impossible, doesn’t it?”

“What does?”

“Him coming back.” He turned away from the window, sitting on the bed with his back pointedly turned away from the ocean. Polly sat beside him, perching on the edge nervously. “I dinnae want to talk about it anymore.” She nodded, looking sympathetic. “How’s Zoe going?”

The mention of Zoe coaxed a smile back onto Polly’s face. “Oh, mortified, of course. But I think she’s happy. Isobel, too.” The wind picked up a little, whistling past the window and almost drowning out the sound of the sea. “I think that storm’s arriving.”

* * *

Fighting to keep his head above water, the Doctor managed to take a few breaths before diving beneath the surface again, rolling out of the way of the waves above and into calmer, deeper waters. The sky was black with stormclouds, the air thick enough with rain that it was almost difficult to tell when it was safe to breathe. Even several metres below the surface, he could still hear a distant rumbling of thunder and see the occasional lightning strike. With no stars to guide his way, and any landmarks hidden by rain and fog, he had been rendered almost blind, feeling his way through the ocean by following the currents and the shape of the sea floor. It was an imprecise, clumsy method of navigation, but the sight of home in the distance had given him fresh vigour, spurring him onwards.

A particularly loud crack of thunder sounded above him, making him flinch and almost sending him careening into the wrong current. Shaking his head, he settled himself back onto the course he was meant to be following, focusing on maintaining a steady speed and calming his racing heart. If he rushed or grew too panicky, he was liable to make mistakes he could not afford. He could see the waves crashing above him, but he was perfectly safe at this depth, so long as he was sensible when he went to take a breath. Once again, he had a straight shot home. He had to make sure that he did not ruin this one.

The sky flashed with lightning, quickly followed by the rumble of thunder. The heart of the storm must be close, he thought. Perhaps he would even have to travel through it, one final barrier to cross before he could get home. The thought made hope surge in his chest. After all the opposition he had encountered on his travels, a simple storm felt almost too easy an obstacle. But the sea was kinder near the Seelie court, the world a little more sheltered. He might very well have already entered into its protective fold.

Surfacing for another breath, he bobbed in place amongst the towering waves, surveying the coastline before him. In this weather, the currents might be unpredictable, dragging him away from the Seelie court and into the unknown, fog-shrouded rocks offshore. Better to follow the headland, he thought – neither option was safe, but he could at least try not to get lost. Diving beneath the waves again, buffeted from side to side, he watched the sea floor carefully, half mesmerised by the kelp swaying so peacefully below him. Every so often, tiny silver fish darted beneath the strands, seeming so peaceful even in the wild storm. The ocean was no longer empty, but littered with great stones looming out of the darkness, and he swerved around them, taking care not to lose the current he was following. He knew he did not have the strength to fight against the ocean’s force. The tip of the headland was growing closer.

Dodging one stone, the Doctor found himself pressed against another, wincing as pain flared in his wounds at the impact. The long swim had already reopened them, the salt water stinging and burning, and he was beginning to suspect that he would feel worse pain before he reached home. Briefly, he wondered if it would have been better to wait until he was a little more healed, but he knew there had been no choice but to go on. His wounds and sealskin needed faerie healing, and he doubted that he could have hunted for himself, with the state he was in. Danger had driven any thoughts of food out of his mind when the other selkie had attacked him, but now hunger was beginning to sink its claws into him. He had to reach the Seelie court tonight.

He managed to dive beneath the waves which had driven him against the rocks, swerving away from the headland and into calmer waters. Despite everything, he allowed himself a little flicker of satisfaction. He knew these waters, these stones, the way the sea floor rose and fell beneath him. He had hunted here, swum with the seal pod and with Jamie – never in such rough weather, but the land remained the same. Surely he was within range of the Seelie court’s protection now.

He opened his mind, feeling the singing of the Seelie court’s magic fill him, soothing his pain to a dull ache and renewing his strength. Latching onto it like a lifeline, he swam onwards with surprising speed. Now, with his energy and hope returned, his reflexes became faster, his control over his movements more precise. The tears in his coat were still hampering his swimming abilities, but that did not matter now. He dared to swim a little closer to the headland, weaving in and out of rocks, relishing the challenge despite himself. The court’s magic made the suffering of the past few months melt away, as if all that time had never passed. As if he could reach the shore, shake off his coat, and go home to Jamie like he had never been away.

Surfacing, he tread water for a little longer than normal, counting the waves between himself and the shore. He was still a short distance from the true boundary of the Seelie court, but he was already within its safe cradle. If he breathed deep enough, he could almost taste the raw magic sparking in the air. Craning his neck over the waves, he caught sight of the sídhe beneath which the Seelie court was built, golden light glinting at the windows. The singing in his head grew louder in response to the sight, and he cried out into the storm, the thunder muffling his joy, the promise that he was almost home.

Somewhere, deep in the tangled web of Seelie magic, he could feel the barest hint of Jamie’s presence. He made as if to cry out again, but a wave crashed into him, filling his mouth with water and sending him tumbling downwards, tossed against the headland. He fought to right himself and find the surface, but he was being pushed closer to the cliffs, against the sharper, more dangerous rocks. He collided with one, the impact knocking the wind out of him, and he struggled to reach the surface and take another breath. He was blinded by the froth of the waves, the water churning all around him. When at last he managed to get his head above the surface, another wave bore down over him, and he received not air but a mouthful of salt water. Coughing and spluttering, his lungs stinging with the salt, he let himself remain pressed against the rock for a moment to catch his breath. His wounds were bleeding freely again, but he was glad of it. For the moment, the pain was keeping his exhaustion at bay.

Watching the waves carefully, he made himself breathe in time with them. In and out, in and out, over and over and over. Lightning split the sky in two, making him flinch. In and out, in and out, in and out. Dawn was breaking on the horizon, a faint light peering through the clouds to chase away the storm. In and out, in and out. His heart was pounding, blood rushing in, then out through his wounds. He tensed, preparing to leap back out into the waves. All he had to do was time it so the waves would pull him away from the rocks – and hope that he was strong and fast enough to avoid being pushed back against them. Taking a deep breath, he leapt away from the rock and towards the water, slipping smoothly between the waves. His momentum carried him a little way out to sea, and he beat his tail as hard as he could, trying to escape the pull of the currents.

For a moment, he thought he had made it out of the reach of the worst waves, but even as he was mapping out the path he needed to follow, he found himself being pulled back in towards the rocks. No matter how hard he fought against the tide, he could not break its hold on him, and his thrashing was quickly becoming weaker. He knew that he would not be able to escape by strength alone. He dived deep in the hopes of getting below the strongest currents, he winced when he scraped against the sea floor. Yelping as he collided with one rock, he narrowly avoided another, barely dodging away from it in time. When he managed to get his head above water and look around, his heart sunk. The headland’s cliff was an unbroken line of sheer, jagged rock, with not even a small place for him to rest and wait out the storm. He had to keep going.

At last, he managed to weave his way out of the rocks, poking his nose above the surface for one last deep breath before following the sea bed downwards, away from the rolling of the waves that could so easily tumble him back towards the crags. The currents of the open waters might be unpredictable, but at least he was away from the headland. His reflexes were slowing again, his fins and tail aching. Closing his eyes and opening his mind, he let the song of the Seelie court’s magic fill him. At first it was barely audible above the sounds of the storm and the water around him, but it quickly grew stronger, carrying him onwards even as exhaustion threatened to overwhelm him.

Beneath the Seelie court’s innate magic, there was something else – a familiar voice, singing a familiar song. He swam faster in response, raising his head above the water to find himself barely a few metres away from the shore. The rain was easing up, the storm lessening as dawn broke, and he did not dip down beneath the surface again, instead riding the waves over the final distance. Tumbling onto the shore, he rolled across a flat stretch of rock, wincing as shells and loose stones scraped against his sides. The wave retreated back into the ocean, leaving him beached there. With the last of his strength, he managed to push himself a short distance inland, out of reach of the water.

His eyes were slipping closed. His sealskin fell away from him, as if in automatic response to returning to land, tired of clinging to him in its torn and battered state. A few weak rays of light were touching on the passage that led to the Seelie court, and he smiled to himself, overcome by a long-absent sense of peace. Unconsciousness was taking him. “Jamie...”

The first gulls were starting to call as he slipped into oblivion.


	7. Chapter Six

Wandering across the beach, Jamie conjured himself a bunch of flowers, turning them back and forth to inspect his work. Forget-me-nots. Odd. The last few days had all given him roses. It seemed like forever since he had shown the Doctor his forest, and they had picked forget-me-nots hand in hand. Forever since he had seen the Doctor.

Casting the flowers into the sea, he wondered if they would ever reach him. He doubted it, but magical flowers did have a habit of surviving for longer than their more corporeal counterparts. Perhaps one would cross the Doctor’s path one day, and he would see the trace of Jamie’s touch and be reminded of him.

Seabirds were wheeling in the sky above him, their calls loud and almost joyous. The storm last night had been merciless, and Jamie wondered whether they were greeting the return of calm waters, or grey but rainless skies. Occasionally, one or two would dive towards the beach, squawking with excitement and interest, and he wondered what had been washed up. Fish, perhaps, a free meal laying out in the open for them. When he looked over, however, he saw that they were poking experimentally at something larger, huddled on the rocks. One of the seagulls landed, but was sent hurrying back into the sky when the object of its interest stirred slightly. There was something familiar in its shape, and Jamie’s heart leapt in his chest. _No_ , he told himself. _It can’t be him. You’re seeing things._

He turned away, intending to return to his rooms. The sunlight and warmth had helped, but he still found himself exhausted by his daily vigils. He might as well cut this one short and go home. But the beach held some feeling of the Doctor’s magic, some sense of his presence. None of the other illusions or tricks of the light had ever been able to replicate that. It would hardly hurt to take a look, he told himself. There was no disappointment he could suffer that he had not already felt. The feeling grew stronger as he approached, even as he tried to calm the hammering of his racing heart. _It can’t be him_ , he repeated to himself. _It can’t be him. It’s only been a few months. Even if he did manage to escape his pod, he couldn’t come home yet._

The thing on the beach was human-shaped, curled into a ball as if for protection. He let out a choked sob when he saw that they were bundled into a fur coat, torn and battered but unmistakeably a seal’s pelt, and he hurried to kneel by their side. For a moment, he hesitated, not wanting the heartbreak of seeing their face and finding not the Doctor but another selkie, a stranger. Gathering his resolve, he rolled them over, pushing the coat away from their face and staring down at them, trying to make sense of it all, hardly daring to trust the proof of his own eyes.

“Jamie,” the Doctor murmured, so quietly Jamie almost missed it. “Jamie, are you there?”

“A – aye,” Jamie managed. “Aye, I’m here, leannan. You’re home.”

“Home.” The Doctor’s eyes were barely open. He reached one hand up weakly, and Jamie took it, pressing the Doctor’s palm against his cheek.

“Here,” he repeated. His tears were falling freely now, and the Doctor’s hand twitched as if he wanted to brush them away. “How did ye get home? I thought it was years until ye could even leave the sea.” He tightened his grip on the Doctor’s coat, still trying to prove to himself that he was not dreaming, that this really was the Doctor. “I thought you’d never come back.”

The Doctor smiled faintly, his eyes slipping closed. “I… missed you.” He went limp, falling back into unconsciousness even as Jamie tried to shake him awake again.

Glancing at the archway leading to the corridors of the Seelie court, then back towards the Doctor’s unmoving form, Jamie wondered if he had the strength to carry him to his rooms. Energy was returning to him, his hands becoming more corporeal, the world around him sharpening after months of feeling like he was walking in a dream, but it was not happening fast enough. The Doctor needed to be brought inside as quickly as possible. Wrapping his arms securely around the Doctor, Jamie tried to lift him, but found that the weight was too much. After a few tries, he collapsed over the Doctor’s chest, breathing hard. He was flickering in and out of transparency now, and knew he had used up too much energy. He would not even be able to go for help in this state.

“Jamie!” Polly was hurrying across the beach, as if summoned by his distress. “Jamie, are you alright -” She fell silent, clearly having just recognised the Doctor. “Jamie, what’s happened?”

Jamie raised his head, looking up at her pleadingly. “I don’t know,” he said weakly. “I – we need your help. He has tae get inside.” Polly kept staring for a moment, clearly struggling to comprehend the Doctor’s presence. “Quickly, Polly!”

The more forceful tone in Jamie’s voice made Polly shake herself out of her confusion. “Of course,” she said, still sounding a little stunned. “What do you want me to do?”

“I cannae lift him on my own,” Jamie explained.

Nodding, Polly hastened over to help him pull the Doctor upright. They could just about manage to carry his weight between them for a short distance, Jamie thought. It was a good thing that his rooms were not too far from the shore. He stepped forwards, but Polly hesitated, making him stumble. “Come on, Polly!”

“Are you sure we shouldn’t take him to the healers instead?” she asked, biting her lip. “He does look very ill.”

For the first time, Jamie registered the blood soaked through the Doctor’s shirt, the scratches and cuts and bruises marring what seemed like every inch of his skin, how frighteningly thin he was. The Doctor had fought hard to come back, and had almost paid for it with his life. “Aye, I’m sure,” he said at last. “They can come tae him, if he needs it.” He met Polly’s eyes, trying to look reassuring and decisive rather than desperate. “I – I’ll not leave him. Not now.”

“Alright.” Polly still looked concerned, but she helped carry the Doctor inside without further protest. “You’ll take good care of him, I know you will.”

Jamie shrugged. “I’ll do my best for him,” he said grimly. The rest went unsaid. _I just hope it’ll be enough._

* * *

The Doctor awoke alone, in an unfamiliar place, without even the strength to open his eyes. His wounds seemed less painful, but whether they were healing or not he was unable to say. The realisation that his coat was not wrapped securely around his shoulders made him flinch, and he fumbled for it with clumsy, unresponsive hands. In his terror-fuelled frenzy, he half kicked the blankets away from him, and calmed a little at the feeling of fresh air on his skin. Weak as he was, and without his coat, even a few layers of blankets were enough to make him feel claustrophobic and trapped.

Footsteps. He was not alone after all. Someone had hurried over to him, was pressing him back down against the bed. He struggled desperately, but it was not long before he did not have the strength to resist any further. His assailant – or were they his rescuer? – placed a hand against his forehead, the contact cool where he had not realised he was burning. When he felt the blankets tucked back around him tightly, he fought to push them away again until he felt seal fur soft against his cheek, soothing his shaking. Reaching out, he clutched his coat against his chest, burying his face in it. It smelt sharply of salt, and he could almost hear the roar of the waves, the cry of gulls, the calls of seals. Much of the blood and sand had been carefully washed away, and its presence spoke of comfort and safety, despite the rips in it.

“There ye go.” The voice was familiar, felt almost safer than his coat did, but he could not put a name to it. His eyes still refused to open. “Ye know I’d never take it from ye, leannan.” He still could not identify the speaker, but could perfectly picture their reassuring smile. “I was trying tae fix it, but I dinnae ken how.”

Realisation and remembrance and reassurance burst across his mind like a flower into bloom – no, like a whole forest erupting into colour and life at once, joyous spring after winter. “Jamie,” he gasped out. “Jamie...”

“Aye, that’s me.” Jamie’s hand was on his forehead again. He gave a little murmur of displeasure. “You’re not gettin’ any better.”

“You’re a dream.” How else could Jamie be here, tending to him like this?

“If ye like.” Jamie’s voice was growing steadily more distant, as if he was moving away, though the Doctor could still feel his touch. “Doctor, what happened? How did ye get home?”

“Home.” The Doctor’s grasp on the scene, already fragile, was quickly slipping away. If it was a dream, it had been a startlingly vivid one. Leaving it was like falling asleep. “Am I home? Jamie? Jamie, don’t go!”

“I’m no’ going anywhere.” Jamie’s voice was still fading. “Ye came home, remember?” The Doctor struggled to reply, but no sound passed his lips. “Doctor?” Jamie shook his shoulders gently. He sounded as if he was whispering from the shore, and the Doctor was trapped deep beneath the sea, unable to hear or reach him. “Doctor!”

Silence.

* * *

The Doctor slept fitfully for a few more days, but he did not come anywhere near so close to waking as he had for those brief, precious minutes. Jamie had wondered whether taking his coat again would force him to wake out of desperation, the pain of his need for it overcoming the pain of his wounds, but he could not bring himself to try it. He had not taken the coat when the Doctor had asked him to, and he would not take it now. If he was to heal the Doctor, it would be with care, not cruelty. Nor would he risk breaking the Doctor’s trust in him irreparably, or worsening his condition. His wounds were closing well enough, even those which had been beginning to fester turning clean. The raging fever that had plagued him for days was subsiding, and all without the help of the trained healers.

Jamie knew it was a feat of which he ought to be proud – and yet he could not take pride in it, because the Doctor still would not wake. The longer he waited, the more it seemed that it was the damage to the Doctor’s coat that was weakening him, drawing out his suffering. No mage or healer he had spoken to knew of any remedy for a torn coat, and there were no visiting selkies who could offer what knowledge they had. Even the Doctor’s selkie books from the library had provided no insight or glint of wisdom. What he needed more than anything was to talk to the Doctor, but it was the Doctor he was trying to heal. In this, he was alone.

Humming to himself quietly, he paused in his mixing of a medicine, staring down at the table before him. Even after all this time, he had not touched the things the Doctor had left behind. In the pale light of dawn, it was easy to imagine that nothing had ever changed, that the Doctor was simply asleep in the bed behind him, that he would soon wake and they would go about their lives without a care in the world. But the Doctor’s sleep was too silent, and there was an ache in Jamie’s heart. He had been so loath to leave the Doctor’s side – out of hope that he would wake up, or fear that he would die alone, Jamie was unsure – that he had not visited the forest in all this time, and the absence of both his magic’s home and the Doctor’s company was beginning to weaken him.

His humming turned to singing almost of its own accord, and he let himself be absently swept along in its quiet, sad tides, turning his attention back to the medicine in his hands. Memory and wishful thinking would not bring the Doctor back to him, he told himself. He had come too far to give up on the Doctor now, even as time ate away at what little faith he had in him ever waking again. Coming to the end of a verse, his voice faltered. He had reached the point where the Doctor should pick up the tune. Setting down the bowl, he leant heavily on the table. The memory of the Doctor singing back to him was so vivid that it seemed almost real, and he attempted to push it away.

The Doctor did not stop singing.

Jamie remained frozen in place for a moment, trying to calm his heart and mind. He told himself that it was impossible, that the Doctor was too deeply asleep to have heard a word of it, let alone sing back. _It’s not real_ , he repeated, over and over, trying to drown out the frantic whispers of his heart. _What if it is?_ The Doctor’s voice was weak, barely more than a murmur, not at all how Jamie remembered it. _What if?_ his heart whispered again, and he turned, trying to believe that he was imagining things, knowing in the deepest core of his being that he was not. The Doctor’s eyes were still closed, but his lips were moving, his fingers tapping out the rhythm of the song. The song that he had used to keep his memories of Jamie safe. Jamie hurried over to kneel by his bedside, taking his hands.

The Doctor’s eyes opened slowly, casting around unseeingly at first but then focusing in on Jamie. Tears stung at Jamie’s eyes, but he did not even bother to wipe them away, reaching out to cup the Doctor’s cheek instead, grasping at his coat and shirt with his other hand. The Doctor’s lips curved into a soft smile, and he reached up to grasp Jamie’s wrist, seeming to need the contact and the reassurance that this was real as much as Jamie did. They sang together, clutching at each other as if they might drift apart at any moment. The sun dipped behind the clouds, but the brightness of the Doctor’s smile more than made up for it, Jamie thought – made up for all the pain of the last few months, too, and all his worry that he would not be able to save him. The Doctor still seemed tired, but his eyes were sparkling like sunlight on the sea, and Jamie’s heart clenched at the sight. The song ended with neither joy nor loneliness, but with a sense that the world had slotted back into place.

Jamie’s tears were dripping onto the Doctor’s coat. “Sorry,” he managed, making as if to brush them away, but the Doctor caught his wrist again. The damage to the coat was being undone, rips and holes knitting themselves back together before Jamie’s eyes without even a trace of a scar. He stared down at it in wonderment. “How?”

“Salt water from someone who loves you,” the Doctor said. His voice was hoarse, as if he had been silent since they parted. Perhaps he had been, Jamie thought. “Seven tears into the sea to bring a selkie home, they say. Why not seven tears to mend a torn coat?”

Jamie brushed his fingers over the coat lightly, gazing down at it in awe. “Really?”

The Doctor gave a little huff of laughter. “Not really, but it sounded like it should be true.” Jamie batted at him, carefully avoiding his wounds. “No, I suspect you managed to tap into my healing magic. The salt water part was true, I suppose. There’s a part of the sea inside all of us, even in a forest fae like you. Mine is in my magic; yours is in your tears.”

Jamie’s mind was far, far away, fixed on another memory. “Seven tears into the sea, ye said.” He had long since shed seven tears, but perhaps the events which had brought the Doctor back to him had been set in motion months ago.

“That is traditional, yes.”

It would certainly explain why the Doctor had been able to come home so soon, Jamie thought. “I brought ye home.”

The Doctor’s smile widened, pride flashing in his eyes. “You did.”

“Did ye know I would?”

“Not until you started guiding me home.” The Doctor’s voice had been slowly strengthening, but it seemed to weaken with exhaustion again, as if the mere thought of his journey home was enough to tire him. “I wanted to stay with you more than I wanted to go back to the sea.” He gestured towards his chest, where Jamie knew his shirt concealed the ragged, still-red scar of a bite mark. “I dare say you’ve seen the results. My pod exiled me for it. The cycle was broken, and I could come back.” His eyes were slipping closed. “But I needed you to show me how to get here.”

Jamie squeezed his hand. “Dinnae talk any more,” he said. “Ye need tae get some proper rest.”

“Mm.” The Doctor huddled further into his coat, nuzzling into the pillow. “Jamie?”

“Aye?”

“I love you. You won’t leave me, will you?”

“I love ye too.” Jamie tucked the blankets around him. “I’m not going anywhere, I promise.”


	8. Chapter Seven

The cries of the seal pod were louder and more joyful than they had been in months, as if they knew their protector had returned and were more brazen about announcing their presence. Leaning back against his usual rock, Jamie surveyed the grey sea, scanning the waves for ripples, the bob of a familiar shape at the surface. A half-grown seal was draped across his lap, puffing and grunting happily in his sleep. The scene was a familiar one, but its atmosphere was wholly changed. Now, he knew where the Doctor was and when he would return.

He grinned at the lazy wave of a flipper and the flick of a tail fin as the Doctor dove towards the sea floor again. Regaining his strength and repairing his seal coat had allowed the Doctor to return to his usual cheerful self more quickly than Jamie had expected, and they had agreed that a visit to the seal pod and a dip in the water would be good for him. He certainly seemed to be enjoying it, Jamie thought, watching him leap and twist in ways that were entirely useless to the business of catching lunch.

A few minutes later, the Doctor slid up onto the shore, honking happily around a mouthful of fat, glinting fish. He hurried up the shore towards Jamie, holding the fish out towards him. It flopped from side to side in his grip, and Jamie pulled a face, shaking his head. “Ye need tae eat to get your strength back,” he said diplomatically.

The Doctor swallowed the fish, shaking off his coat and shrugging in one fluid motion. “Oh, well, please yourself.” He shuffled over to lean against the rock beside Jamie, draping his coat over both their shoulders. “Now, that’s a familiar face.”

Jamie smiled down at the seal in his lap. “Aye. He’s grown, hasn’t he?” He looked around at the other seals. The Doctor seemed so comfortable around them, at ease in a way he did not seem to be anywhere else. “Are ye sure the link’s broken? Ye dinnae have to go home again?”

The Doctor turned away from him, suddenly seeming uncomfortable. “I am home,” he said at length. His hand drifted up towards his chest, where Jamie knew the scar from the bite was concealed beneath his shirt, stark silver against his softly dappled skin. “I told you, they drove me out.”

“Aye, but...” Jamie trailed off, trying to sort his jumbled of thoughts and fears and what ifs into something coherent enough to express to the Doctor. “Won’t ye have tae go back to the sea eventually?”

The Doctor seemed to be struggling to explain himself as much as Jamie was, though he appeared more bashful than confused. “I loved you too much to stay with my pod, and they chased me away,” he said slowly. Jamie nodded. He understood that much, at least. “There was nothing in the sea that could be even remotely close to my home anymore. It broke the cycle. But my people are bound by instinct to have something to call home. A place, or, sometimes...” He glanced back at Jamie. “A person.”

True comprehension of the situation dawned in Jamie’s mind for the first time since the Doctor had come back. “Me?”

The Doctor nodded, a pleased smile playing on the edge of his lips, as if he was proud that Jamie had understood and was not rejecting him. “I rather think you’re stuck with me.” The bashful look returned. “I – ah – I hope that won’t be a problem.”

“How could it be a problem?” Jamie pulled him closer, resting his head on the Doctor’s shoulder. “How are we going tae explain all this to the others?”

“Do they need to know?”

“They’ll want to know something, at least. I don’t know how much Polly’s told them already.”

“That’s a conversation for another time.” The Doctor stretched out, scratching the top of the seal’s head idly. “I’m not sure I’m ready to talk about it yet. I’m still adjusting to being home again.”

“Aye, you’re right. I’ve had a wee while longer tae get used to things. Maybe once you’re well again.” Gently pushing the seal out of his lap, Jamie rubbed the top of its head in affectionate farewell and stood up, brushing sand off himself. He held his hand out to the Doctor. “Come on.”

“Where are we going?” The Doctor let himself be pulled upright, leaning on Jamie a little as they made their way across the beach.

“There’s something I’ve been meaning tae put right.” Jamie led them up the slope towards the headland and into the forest. “You’ll see.” He followed the familiar path more by instinct than by sight, watching the Doctor’s expressions instead. At first, his face was full of the joy of remembrance, but it quickly turned to horror as he saw what Jamie was leading him towards.

“Oh,” he murmured to himself. “Oh, Jamie.” He crouched down beside the dried flowerbed, brushing his fingers across the almost translucent petals, the shrivelled stems and blades of grass. “How did this happen? Who did this?”

I did.”

“I’ll find them, and I’ll make sure they never set foot here again, and -” The Doctor stared at him. “What did you say?”

“I did this.”

“But Jamie, this is your own forest! These are your flowers, your trees. It would be like me tearing my own coat.” The Doctor pawed at his side as if checking for injuries. “Didn’t it hurt?”

“It happened because I was hurt.” Jamie sighed, kneeling beside him. “There was a time – soon after you’d left – when I wasnae sure if I could keep going without ye, and I didnae think you’d come back. I nearly faded away into the forest. Polly found me here, she – she took me home.” There was a dark, regretful look in the Doctor’s eyes, and Jamie cupped his cheek, turning his head so they were nose to nose. “Hey. It wasnae your fault, aye? Ye had no choice but tae leave. Even I didn’t know how much I needed ye.”

“I know,” the Doctor said softly. “But if only I had made it home faster – if I hadn’t got caught up in all that trouble -”

“I dinnae think ye could avoid trouble if ye tried,” Jamie said, grinning when he managed to coax a smile out of the Doctor.

“Well, we can’t just leave them like this.” The Doctor was suddenly businesslike, sensing a challenge. “What are we going to do about it?”

“We’re going to make them grow again. Together.” Jamie took the Doctor’s hands, as if expecting to find magical already sparking at his fingertips, water pooling in his cupped palms. “Can ye make it rain?”

“Rain?” the Doctor repeated, sounding a little doubtful. “Ah – I’ve never tried to make it rain before. I can try, but I can’t promise it won’t be a little salty.”

“It’ll do,” Jamie reassured him. “They’re magical flowers, they won’t mind a wee bit of salt.”

Getting to his feet a little unsteadily, the Doctor cupped his hands above the bed of flowers. For a moment, nothing seemed to be happening, and his shoulders slumped in disappointment. “I’m sorry, Jamie, I’m not sure I’m strong enough to -” Little wisps of cloud were starting to form around his fingers, making him jump. “Oh! Oh, Jamie, look! It’s working!”

Jamie grinned back at him. “Aye, it is!” The cloud was expanding quickly now, drifting above their heads to hang amongst the branches. As it darkened, lightning started to flicker in its depths, and the first drops of rain began to fall. Where the water hit the flowers, colour burst back into them, lending them a strength which normal rain had never been able to provide. Jamie coaxed them along, quickening the growth as best as he could. Between them, it took only a few minutes for the flowerbed to return to its natural vigour. It was as if the Doctor had never been away, Jamie thought, watching him laugh with pure joy and exhilaration. Almost instinctively, he tugged the Doctor close to kiss him tentatively. The Doctor kissed back enthusiastically, his hands going to Jamie’s waist, but Jamie tasted salt on his lips and broke the kiss. “Are ye crying?”

“No, I’m afraid it’s -” The Doctor gestured above them, looking a little sheepish. “It’s the rain.”

“Oh.” Only then did Jamie realise that the cloud had spread enough that it covered them, too, rising higher and higher through the branches. The Doctor made a gesture as if to release it from their services and push it away into the sky, and it rose faster, settling amongst the other clouds. Thunder rumbled between them – there was a moment of silence – then a deluge of rain poured down across the forest, spreading lazily across the beach and further inland in a great grey curtain. Turning his face up towards the sky, Jamie grimaced as he realised the rain was still salty. “That’ll throw off the weather wizards for days.”

“I should like to hear what they make of it.” The Doctor staggered a little, and Jamie hurriedly wrapped his arms around him, holding him up.

“Are ye alright?” he asked worriedly.

The Doctor nodded. “Conjuring rain like that isn’t easy, you know. Not for someone like me. It’s not exactly sea magic.”

A pang of regret struck Jamie. “I shouldnae have asked ye to -”

“It’s quite alright.” The Doctor waved away his concerns, but let himself be guided along the path leading out of the forest. “I’ll be right as rain after I’ve had a rest.” He gave Jamie a mischievous little smile, and Jamie whacked his arm gently, trying to hide his own grin.

“Come on, let’s get ye inside.” He winced as they stepped out from under the cover of the trees. “Did ye have tae make it rain that hard?”

“That wasn’t my doing.” The Doctor bundled his coat over their heads to protect them from the rain, waving cheerfully at the seals as they passed. “I’ve had quite enough of being caught out in a storm lately.”

“Will ye ever tell me what happened on your way back?” Jamie asked. The Doctor had been carefully avoiding the topic, and Jamie had followed his lead, but he could not deny that he was curious. He had spoken the dangers of the world beyond the Seelie court many times, even told stories of his own misadventures, and his silence told Jamie that the journey home had not been like his past travels.

“One day. Once there’s some distance between us and what happened.” Dull the memory with time, in other words, Jamie thought. Let it be long enough ago that the Doctor could spin it into something more of a fantastical tale.

Pushing open the door to their rooms, he ushered the Doctor in ahead of him before closing it against the draught and hurrying to kindle a fire in the grate. The Doctor lay his coat out by the fireplace and wandered away to find a cloth to dry his hair, humming to himself absently. When he came to close the windows, Jamie paused, gazing up at the forest without an ache in his heart for months. Like the Doctor and his torn coat, the dried flowers in the forest had pained him, but that pain was now gone, washed away by the rain. The Doctor wrapped his arms around him from behind, resting his chin on Jamie’s shoulder, and Jamie leant back into him contentedly. After a moment, he turned, wanting to say something – _anything_ – to tell the Doctor how glad he was that he had come back, but the Doctor kissed the words from his lips, and he knew that he understood. He guided the Doctor backwards, intending to push him down onto the bed but instead colliding with one of the posts.

The Doctor let out a little _oof_ at the impact, turning his head away from Jamie’s eager kisses. “Jamie.”

Jamie pulled back, looking down at the Doctor worriedly. “Did I hurt ye?” He ran his hands up and down the Doctor’s sides, checking to make sure his wounds had not reopened.

“I understand that you’re happy, but I would appreciate it if you kept your magic under control.” The Doctor stepped away from the post, and a branch sprung out from behind him as if he had been holding it back. “The twigs were starting to dig into my shoulders.”

Jamie’s cheeks reddened. “Ye know I’m not so good at controlling it,” he protested, but the Doctor just laughed and pulled him down onto the bed, wrapping his arms securely around him. More and more branches were sprouting off the bed now, brushing against the ceiling and forming leafy curtains around them, dead wood coming alive again. One branch curled around in front of them, and Jamie touched each bud in turn, making the flowers grow and unfurl.

The Doctor rolled Jamie over onto his back, leaning down to kiss him with joyful abandon. Magic was swirling around his fingertips as he cupped Jamie’s cheeks, waves of water vapour brushing over his skin, softer and more tender than the real ocean. Jamie squirmed away from the tickling sensation of it, looking up to see the Doctor watching him with an expression of unbridled adoration. The branches were still growing around them, forming a bubble outside of which nothing seemed to exist. The Doctor reached over to touch something on Jamie’s bedside table.

“Will you marry me, Jamie?” he said softly.

Jamie knew that he had touched the seaweed wreath he had left before he had returned to the sea. “I thought we agreed tae that months ago.”

“I never got a chance to ask you properly,” the Doctor explained. “Not with the intention of marrying you in the foreseeable future, and spending my life with you. Now I can.”

“Then I’ll marry ye.”

The Doctor broke into a wide smile. “You know, when I came here for the autumn festival, I never dreamt I’d want to stay.” He brushed his fingers over Jamie’s cheek, smiling when Jamie leant into the contact. “What could there possibly be to stay for?”

“Och, I don’t know. They say we’ve got a good library here.”

“It didn’t help in the end, though, did it? What they don’t say is that a pretty forest fae will steal your heart and save you from yourself.” The pounding of the rain on the windows and the mound of earth above them was softening. Jamie made as if to untangle himself from the Doctor’s grip and get up. “Where are you going?”

“To open the window,” Jamie said confusedly. “I thought ye might like tae hear the sea.”

“I don’t need to hear the sea.” The Doctor pushed him back down against the pillows. “I’ve got you.”

“Ye want me tae talk?” The Doctor nodded. “What about?”

“Anything and everything. Tell me what I missed out on when I was away.”

“Aye, alright.” Jamie relaxed again, settling the Doctor against his chest. “Well, Polly and Ben got engaged, and Zoe and Isobel finally sorted things out...”

* * *

The clouds lay heavy over the shoreline all night, but faded away quickly in the morning sunlight. The colours of the world seemed brightened, the leaves on many of the trees replenished, despite the salt of the rain and the harshening weather. Magical rainclouds were seldom seen, even around the Seelie court, but every fae recognised them. Many eyes were turned towards the sky that morning, watching the clouds turn pink and gold in the sunrise before they vanished.

Jamie awoke alone, but to a warm bed and a comfortable buzz in the back of his mind that told him the Doctor was not too far away. Still half-asleep, he dressed himself and began to follow the sense of the Doctor’s presence out of the Seelie court. The few people he passed in the corridors seemed to share the blanket of contentment that lay over him, going about their business slowly and with absent smiles. The sea air was refreshing enough to wake Jamie up fully, but not sharp enough to snap him out of the slight enchantment.

He found the Doctor on the very edge of the headland, his coat wrapped tightly around him as if in defence against some non-existent cold, staring out at the horizon. “I thought you’d still be asleep by the time I got back.”

“Are ye alright?” There was a wistfulness in the Doctor’s eyes. For a moment, Jamie wondered if he was regretting leaving his family.

“Quite alright.” The Doctor’s eyes did not move away from the horizon. “On my way home, I came in directly eastwards, but if I tracked a little to the northwest on my way out, who knows what I’d find?”

“Hopefully something a wee bit friendlier than what ye found when ye were coming home.” Jamie wrapped his arm around the Doctor’s waist, seeking the contact not only out of affection, but to reassure himself that the Doctor would not simply vanish before his eyes. “Are ye thinking of going somewhere?”

“Not straight away. And not without you, of course, if you’d like to come. I’ve often dreamt of travelling with you, showing you all the things I’ve seen.”

Jamie glanced back towards his stretch of forest, the beach and sídhe and lands he called home. It was safe, familiar, welcoming – and yet it seemed so small compared to what the Doctor was offering him. Once, the Doctor had warned him that being away from his forest for too long would kill him, but now something had shifted in his heart. The forest was safe, and it was the Doctor who would need him if he went travelling, just as he needed the Doctor. “Where would we go?”

“Anywhere we liked.”

“And we’d be home in time for Ben and Polly’s wedding.”

The Doctor still did not look away from the ocean, but Jamie could see him smiling. “I wouldn’t miss it for the world. Besides, we have a wedding of our own to plan.”

“And we wouldnae run into too much trouble?”

“No promises there.” At last the Doctor turned to face him, taking Jamie’s hands and holding them to his chest. “Will you come travelling with me, Jamie?”

_Run away with me, more like_ , Jamie thought. _Run away from everything I’ve ever known._ He was surprised by how much he liked the idea. “Aye, of course I will.”

They stood on the headland for a while longer, wrapped in a comfortable silence, staring out across the sea.


	9. Epilogue

“What’s wrong?”

The Doctor turned his gaze away from the window, smiling apologetically at Jamie, but there was a nervousness in his eyes that Jamie had not seen for many years. Something was calling him away, his mind far away from their rooms, and Jamie left behind on the shore again. “It’s nothing.” He leant in for another kiss, but his head snapped back towards the window as if in response to a sound only he could hear.

“It doesnae look like nothing.” Magical energies were swirling around the Doctor anxiously, little tendrils reaching out towards the window. Jamie was sure he was sensing something.

“Someone’s in trouble,” the Doctor murmured. His eyes slipped closed to better tap into what his magic was telling him. “They’re not from here, I don’t know who they are. They’re on the sand dunes a little way away from the court, they’re -” His eyes opened again, and Jamie saw tears welling up. “They’re crying, Jamie. They’re hurt, but they’re not crying for themselves, it’s for -” He leapt off the bed, pulling his coat on and vanishing through the doorway in a swirl of sealskin and fright.

“Doctor!” Jamie hurried after him. “Why can’t I feel it?”

“They’re calling to me,” the Doctor explained. He broke into a jog as they left the Seelie court, rushing across the beach and onto the sand dunes. The shore appeared deserted to Jamie, but he supposed someone could easily be concealed by the night or the long grasses. “They could feel that I was here.” The Doctor paused, his eyes flickering across the dunes in a way that reminded Jamie more of a frightened seal than a human.

“Who are they?” The Doctor was rushing off again, this time sprinting towards some clear goal that was invisible to Jamie. “Did ye find them?”

When he caught up, he found the Doctor kneeling by the side of a blood-soaked seal. No, he realised, a selkie – he could see her magic pulsing weakly around her, beating in time with the heart that was pumping her life away, pooling blood on the sand. Her breaths were coming in ragged gasps by now. She knew she was dying – so why had she called the Doctor to her side?

The Doctor placed his hand on her neck. “She’s a traveller, like I was,” he said softly. “She was passing by – her thoughts are a little hard to read.” He stroked her fur, not seeming to notice the blood. “It’s alright, we’re here with you.” Jamie knelt by his side, taking his free hand. “She was with our seals...” He bowed his head. “A shark came for the young ones. I should have been with them.”

Jamie squeezed his hand gently. “It’s no’ your fault,” he reassured him. “How could ye have known what was happening?”

The Doctor nodded, but Jamie could still see guilt written on his face. “She saved them,” he continued. “She called us here because she wants to protect something – no, someone. She’s fading fast.”

“Can’t we do something?” Jamie asked. “We could take her to the healers, or -”

“Too late.” The Doctor stood up, pulling Jamie away from the selkie’s body. Before Jamie could protest, she vanished from sight, leaving only a trickle of water cascading towards the ocean. “She’s gone.” He sighed heavily. “There’s not much water. She must only have been young. One day, that water will have flowed for so long that it’ll form a permanent stream. I wonder if her spirit will stay here, or if it’s going home.”

“Doctor...” Jamie tugged on the Doctor’s sleeve. “I think I know who she wanted us to protect.”

A seal pup was curled amongst the grasses, letting out tiny cries of distress at the vanishing of his mother’s body. His fur was still white beneath a thick layer of blood and sand, his body thin and lacking the blubber of an older pup. “She came here to have her pup this morning,” the Doctor murmured, kneeling down again. “Why didn’t she find me earlier?” He reached out, letting the pup sniff his hands before picking him up and cradling him against his chest. “There you are, you’re safe now.” The pup squealed, looking around frantically for his mother, too young to understand her fate. “Shh, there’s a good flipperling.”

“What are we going tae do?” Jamie crouched beside the Doctor, wrapping one arm around him and holding out his other hand to the pup. “Give him to your seal friends?”

“No, no, of course not.” The Doctor gave a fond chuckle as the pup mouthed at Jamie’s fingers curiously. “Look! He’s never met anyone like you before. No, he’s one of my people. He needs to be with other fae creatures. We’re going to look after him ourselves.” The pup squeaked around his mouthful of Jamie’s fingers. “You’d like that, wouldn’t you?”

Jamie watched the Doctor rub noses with the pup. “So she called us here tae give us a son.” He felt a little light-headed at the prospect.

“Yes, I suppose she did.” The Doctor smiled and squeezed Jamie’s arm, seeing his overwhelmed expression. “Let’s get him home.”


End file.
